$(document).ready(function() {
                
    /* 
    * attach a function to open all links with a class of "external" in a new window 
    * this avoids the use of target="_blank" and allows us to validate as XHTML strict
    */
    $("a[rel^='external']").click( function() {
        window.open(this.href);
        return false;
    });
    
    // force ie to cache css backgrounds
    try {
        document.execCommand('BackgroundImageCache', false, true);
    } catch (e) {}
       
});